412 



THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 



[June 22, 1912. 



EDITORIAL NOTICE. 



ADVERTISEMENTS should be sent to the PUB- 

 LISHER, 41. Wellington Street, Covent Garden, 

 W.C 



Letters for Publication, as well as specttnens of plants 

 for naming, should be addressed to the EDITORS, 

 41, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, London. 



Communications should be written on one side only of 

 the paper, sent as early in the week as possible and duly 

 signed by the writer. If desired % the signature will not be 

 printed, but kept as a guarantee of good faith. 



Special Notice to Correspondents.— 7 'he Editors do not 

 undertake to pay for any contributions or illustrations, or 

 to return unused communications or illustrations, unless by- 

 special arrangement. The Editors do not hold themselves 

 responsible for any opinions expressed by their correspon- 

 dents. 



Local Hews.— Correspondents will greatly oblige by sending to 

 the Editors early intelligence of local events likely to be of 

 interest to our readers, or of any matters whichit is desirable 

 to bring under the notice of horticulturists. 



APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



convincingness of Biffen's original evi- 

 dence has been produced, it cannot be 

 denied that Biffen's conclusions have been 

 regarded with suspicion in many quarters. 

 This suspicion would appear to be 

 based on a confusion of thought, which 

 goes not infrequently w r ith a suspicious 

 turn of mind. It was not claimed by 

 Biffen that he could produce infallibly in 

 two generations a Wheat which should 

 have all the virtues of the one parent and 

 only lack its defect, that of susceptibility 

 to yellow rust. For it is sheer common 

 sense that if the characters' susceptibility 

 and immunity separate from one another 

 in the second generation of the cross in 

 such a way that three-quarters of that 



MONDAY, JUNE 24— Midsummer Day. 



TUESDAY, JUNE 25 - 



Royal Scottish Arboricultural Soc. Excursion to Dee- 

 side (5 days). 



WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26- 



Nat, Rose Soc* Sh. at Southampton. Colchester Rose 

 and Hort. Soc. Summer Sh. Richmond Fl. Show, 

 Royal Botanic Soc. meet. 



THURSDAY, JUNE 27-Isle of Wight Rose Exh.at Ryde. 



FRIDAY, JUNE 28— Canterbury and Kent Rose Soc. Sh. 



SATURDAY, JUNE 29— 



Windsor, Eton and Dist. Rose Sh. at Windsor. Sutton 



Rose Soc. Sh. 



i - 



Average Mean Temperature for the ensuing week 

 deduced from observations during the last Fifty Years 

 at Greenwich-62*2°. 



Actual Temperatures: — 



London.— Wednesday, June 19 (6 p.m.) : Max. 80° : 



Min. 54 y . 

 Gardeners' Chronicle Office, 41, Wellington Street, 

 Covent Garden, London. — Thursday, June 20 



(10 a.m.) : Bar. 29-7°; Temp. 65°; Weather— 

 Overcast. 



Provinces. — Wednesday, June 19: Max. 71° Spalding; 



Min. 56° Liverpool. 



Our Supplementary Illustration. 



Amongst greenhouse plants which have de- 

 servedly become great favourites during recent 

 years is Coleus thyrsoideus, the subject of our 

 Supplementary Illustration. This species is a 

 native of British Central Africa, where it grows 

 on the hillsides at an altitude of 6,000 to 

 7,000 feet. Its first appearance at the exhibi- 

 tions was during the winter of 1900-01, when 

 Messrs. James Veitch & Sons and Messrs. 

 Sander & Son exhibited plants at the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's fortnightly meetings. It 

 first flowered at Kew in 1898, and for many 

 seasons good groups have been conspicuous ob- 

 jects in the No. 4 house at the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens. During the past winter and early 

 spring, the Kew plants were exceptionally orna- 

 mental, and compelled the admiration of visitors. 

 C. thvrsoideus was illustrated in these columns 



generation are susceptibleand one quarter January 1, 1901, and was described by Mr. Baker 

 is immune, so also may other characters. 



SALES FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



FRIDAY— 



Imported Orchids from various localities; also choice 

 Established Orchids and Tree Fern Stems, at 67 & 68, 

 Cheapside, by Frotheroe & Moiris, at 12.45. 



Whence it follows that it will be a matter 

 of time and trouble before a descendant 

 of the original cross is obtained w r hich has 

 a large proportion of the characters of the 

 one parent and only the one desirable 

 character (that of immunity) of the other. 



To expect any other course of events is 

 to be ignorant both of Mendelian science 

 and the law of averages. 



What, of course, is of first importance 

 is to ascertain whether the immunity 

 obtained in a proportion of the plants of 

 the second generation is, or is not, a fixed 

 character ; that is, one which is handed 

 down intact from one self-fertilised 

 generation to the next. If that prove to 

 be the case, then the hope of establish- 

 ing disease-resistance strains is a high 

 one ; if it prove impossible, then that 

 hope appears vain. 



This inquiry has now been made 

 (" Studies in the Inheritance of Disease 



Resistance, 



II " 



XX., 



Journ. of Agric. 



Disease 



i 



Some years ago widespread Science, June, 1912), and as a result of it 



_ interest was aroused by Pro- Professor Biffen claims that the im- 



fessor Biffen's discovery munity from yellow rust of the individuals 

 that the susceptibility of Wheat to attack of the second generation of a cross be- 

 by the yellow rust (Puccinia glumarum) is tween susceptible and immune varieties 

 inherited in a regular and simple man- has been maintained for no fewer than 

 ner ; and that it is, therefore, possible, eight generations. 



given the existence of an immune (disease- 



The fact thus demonstrated, that im 



resistant) variety, to create a ra<;e of munity, once it is conferred on a variety, 

 Wheat which shall combine resistance to 

 this disease with the characters possessed 

 by the susceptible parent. 



Experiments carried out by Professor descendants, is, of course, of the highest 

 Biffen on these lines led him to claim that horticultural importance. For if, after all 

 this very 

 achieved. 



is not a fluctuating character, but 

 one which manifests itself in, at all 

 events, many generations of pure-bred 



desirable object had been the labour entailed in the discovery of an 



For example, crosses be- immune variety, in crossing it with an 



tween a susceptible variety and " Ameri- otherwise desirable but susceptible variety, 



can Club/' -a Wheat very resistant and in isolating the immune individuals of 



to yellow rust, gave rise to a Wheat the second generation, it were found that 



as susceptible as the parent ; when, the hardly-won immunity was as unstable 



however, the first generation was self- as a house of cards, the encouragement to 



fertilised it yielded plants some of 

 which were susceptible and some of which 

 were immune. The ratio of rust suscep- 

 tible to rust-proof plants was as 3 : 1. mains a permanent character of the cross- 

 Whence it was concluded that suscepti- bred race, then no pains and no labour 

 bility to this disease depends on the in the breeding of such a race are to be 



pursue this line of research would be 

 slender indeed. 

 If, on the other hand, the immunity re- 



presence of a factor in the germ plasm, 

 and that immunity depends upon the 

 absence of this factor. 



counted as excessive. We are confident, 

 therefore, that Professor Biffen's brilliant 

 and successful investigations of disease- 



It is only natural that a discovery of resistance in Wheat will encourage other 



«uch importance should give rise to a con- workers to pursue similar lines of re- 



siderable amount of discussion and criti- search with respect to other plants and 



cism, and although, so far as we know, no their resistance to the several diseases 



^destructive evidence of anything like the which affect them. 



in the Botanical Magazine, tab. 7672. The plant 

 has a long flowering period, for as fast as the 

 spent flowers drop they are succeeded by others. 



Birthday Honours. 



Sir David Prain. 



The news that a knighthood has been conferred 

 or Lieutenant-Colonel Prain will be received 

 with the greatest pleasure by horticulturists and 

 botanists'. Sir David Prain had already ren- 

 dered distinguished services to science when he 

 was appointed, in December of 1905, to succeed 

 Sir William Thiselton-Dyer as Director of 

 Kew. The early years of Sir David's profes 

 sional life were passed in India, where he occu- 

 pied successively the posts of Curator of the 

 Calcutta Herbarium (1887-1895), Professor of 

 Botany at the Medical College, and Superinten- 

 dent of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta 

 (1895-1898), and Director of the Botanical Survey 

 of India. Sir David Prain has held the office of 

 Director of Kew for seven years, and he ha 

 shown himself an admirable administrator, can 

 tious, yet progressive, and, needless to say, he i 

 devoted to his work and to the science which he 

 adorns. 



Sir George Pragnell, also a new 



Knight, is the head of the firm of Messrs. Cook. 

 Son & Co., St. Paul's Churchyard, and is the 

 eldest of three sons of the late George Prag- 

 nell, who was for many years gardener at 

 Sherborne Castle, Dorsetshire, a regular contri- 

 butor to the Gardeners' Chronicle, and the 

 raiser of Pragnell's Crimson Beet. Forty 

 years ago Sir George Pragnell's father was 

 one of the most prominent exhibitors of vege- 

 tables and hardy fruit, and a most highly- 

 respected man. 



Sir Alexander Cross, one of the 



new Baronets, is the senior partner in the firm 

 of Messrs. A. Cross & Sons, manure merchants 

 and sundriesmen, of Glasgow. 



The Horticultural Branch of the Board 

 of Agriculture.— In the House of Commons 

 on Tuesday last, Mr. Runciman, replying to 

 questions asked by Mr. Bathurst, stated, 

 according to the Times, that the duties 

 of the new horticultural branch will embrace 

 all sections of the horticultural industry. 

 The head of the branch will be Mr. A. G. L. 

 Rogers. Mr. Rogers will have the assistance 

 of an entomological expert, eight other expert 

 outdoor officers with various technical qualifica- 

 tions, and an adequate clerical staff. As agri- 

 culture and horticulture have many interests in 

 common, it is not possible to state what propor- 

 tion of the revenue of the Board will be allo- 

 cated exclusively to horticulture. Whether small 

 holdings would come under the new department 

 of horticulture would depend on the size of the 

 small holding, and upon the nature of the culti- 

 vation that is conducted on the holding. I'OTd 

 C Hamilton asked whether the right hon. 

 gentleman would say who Mr. Rogers was and 

 what were his qualifications for the post he was 

 to occupy? Mr. Runciman replied that if the 

 noble lord would nut down a question he would 

 be glad to give him the information. 



